""We have to give the opposition credit because they made it so tough," says Notts County boss Williams after win at Halifax

The result leaves The Shaymen still bottom of the table after their fourth defeat in their opening five matches.

Town had the better of the opening 40 minutes but found themselves 2-0 down at the interval before conceding two more in the second-half.

"I'm pleased how well we defended and the responsibility they took with their defensive duty," Williams said.

"It wasn't enjoyable to watch, I think the opposition put us on the back foot from the beginning of the game and for most of the first-half.

"I think we were quite fortunate to come in (at half-time) in-front but then we've played very well at times this season and but got nothing at all or suffered with one mistake.

"I would prefer that we're in control of the game from minute one but we have to give the opposition credit because they made it so tough."

Notts County were the far more clinical side in the game, with Macauley Langstaff scoring twice and Cedwyn Scott and Kairo Mitchell also scoring.

"I'm happy if we only have six shots if the opposition don't have any but they had too many shots," Williams said.

"When you play man for man against us and you play up against us you run the risk of making one mistake and we have players that can hurt you and that's what happened.

"I though the opposition played extremely aggressively, man for man everywhere, but if you're man for man, one small mistake and you don't have cover it's very tough when we have good players that can finish."

Williams felt the Shay pitch didn't help either team in the game.

"We want to try and get into our flow, have the majority of the ball and try to build our attacks but the pitch was very, very difficult, and probably the best defender against us because it stopped us from being able to pass the ball cleanly and stopped players from being able to move cleanly," said Williams.

"But I thought the opposition dealt with it better, they're probably more used to playing on the surface.

"I thought they moved the ball quite well at times.

"We highlighted to the players in the week that the pitch was going to be soft and cut up and I think the players had a good mindset to that."